


Everything At Once Is Ours

by ChibiRHM



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Wishbabies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 07:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1419726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiRHM/pseuds/ChibiRHM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s safe to say that fatherhood seems to suit Evgeni Malkin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything At Once Is Ours

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [lives to live through seasons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147728) by [oflights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oflights/pseuds/oflights). 



> I had not planned on writing more kidfic after [First Day of My Life](http://archiveofourown.org/works/713812), like, at all. But then oflights started writing her Wishbabies fic and as I was "helping" her write it I kept coming up with a million scenarios I wanted her to include. "DO THIS," I kept IMing her. "ALSO ADD A SECTION WITH THIS."
> 
> "WHY DON'T YOU WRITE YOUR OWN WISHBABIES FIC," she replied, which, I conceded, was probably a good idea. There is no such thing as too much kidfic in the world, especially with this pairing.
> 
> This fic couldn't have been written without the aforementioned oflights, who answered roughly a billion questions I had for her about this universe and helped me when I was stuck and whining, and of course nothing is ever possible without i_claudia, who helped me every step of the way and checked this over for any horribly egregious errors.

_It’s safe to say that fatherhood seems to suit Evgeni Malkin._

_His son Nikolai was born in late November, and Malkin has been on an impressive point streak since then, scoring 22 points in the 20 games since his son’s arrival._

_Malkin attributes it all to his son._

_“I wake up and see him every morning, it motivates me,” he explains._

_Being a first time father - and a single one - would seem daunting to most - but Malkin has embraced the challenge, though he has not been without help._

_“[My] parents come over from Russia, and [my] teammates are always over,” Malkin says. “Last night [James Neal] babysit. Guys are good guys.”_

_He laughs. “[Nikolai] is more popular than me.”_

_Malkin is open about the fact that his son was a surprise, though obviously not an unwelcome one. Like many men, Malkin had chosen to forgo wish suppressants, thinking that such a thing would never happen to him._

_“Geno was a little freaked out at first,” admits Dan Bylsma, “but he’s adapted splendidly.”_

_“There’s no doubt he loves his son and is more than happy to have him now. I’m very proud of him both as a coach and as a fellow father.”_

_Other teammates are quick to praise Malkin’s play as of late as well as his parenting. “I think Geno’s been playing great,” said captain Sidney Crosby._

_“I’m not worried about him balancing his kid and hockey at all. Geno obviously must have wanted [Nikolai] very much, and we’re all just really happy for him.”_

_But above all else, like any new parent, Malkin is just thankful and filled with wonder._

_“My son is [the] most amazing thing,” Malkin says. “I think something like this never happen to me, and I’m so scared when it does, afraid I’m not ready, but he is healthy and happy, so I’m happy every day with him.”_

 

 **One**  
Geno is woken, as he feels like he is woken every morning, by the sound of Kolya crying. He’s not flat-out wailing, more whimpering little snuffles, the kind he makes when he’s waking up and unhappy about it. Geno knows the feeling.

Geno gropes next to him on the other side of the bed, hoping to feel Sid’s comforting weight there, but it’s empty. Sid had gone home the night before, he remembers as he knuckles his eyes and swings his legs off the bed. He had said he’d come over after optional morning skate, which he’s still crazy enough to do sometimes but Geno has long given up on. He wishes Sid were there. If Sid were, Geno could probably have mumbled and pressed a few kisses on the back of Sid’s neck, and Sid would have gotten up and dealt with Kolya, and Geno could have slept past seven in the morning. It is, unfortunately, a rare treat these days.

With a groan, Geno stands up and shuffles down the hallway towards Kolya’s room. Kolya stops his snuffly crying when Geno turns on the light and manages a, “Good morning, Kolen'ka,” in Russian. It’s too early for English. Gingerly, Geno lifts Kolya from his crib and sniffs him. “I don’t have to change your diaper this morning,” he tells Kolya. “You’re getting better at not shitting yourself.”

Kolya gurgles in response and grabs for Geno’s nose.

“Yes, I shouldn’t have sworn in front of you,” Geno continues, resting Kolya against his shoulder and starting downstairs, because Kolya’s relative good mood will only last so long before he demands breakfast. “But you won’t tell Daddy, will you?” The word “daddy” still feels foreign on his tongue, but he’s determined to call Sid that in front of Kolya, determined that Kolya will call Sid “daddy” when he’s old enough.

Geno can feel Kolya’s drool seeping through the worn-thin shoulder of his sleep shirt as he goes through the familiar motions of mixing up a bottle of formula one-handed and then shifting Kolya down to the crook of his elbow. As soon as Kolya’s in feeding position he starts reaching his little arms out until Geno puts the bottle in his mouth, which he latches onto immediately, sucking down formula with all his might.

“That’s my hungry boy,” Geno murmurs, looking down at Kolya’s perfect, tiny face and his perfect, fat little body. He’s so unbelievably happy in that moment; his bare feet cold against the marble of his kitchen, watching his son eat. He used to think it was impossible to be happy before eight in the morning, but everything is easy and hazily blissful in the way it only ever is when he’s half-asleep, like there’s no one in the world during these early morning feedings besides him and Kolya, mutually happy to just stare at each other.

“Perfect boy,” he says, and he swears Kolya smiles around the teat of his bottle at the praise.

 

 **Two**  
When Geno walks in the living room, Sid’s sitting on the couch, slumped down enough so Kolya, who is resting on his raised knees, is face-to-face with him. Sid has been putting in concerted effort to making Kolya smile at him. So far Geno is the only one who can get Kolya to smile with any regularity, but Sid seems determined to get just as many smiles for himself.

“Hey buddy,” he’s saying to Kolya, who has a firm grip on each of Sid’s thumbs and is staring at his face, transfixed. “Hey, can you smile for me?”

“You don’t ask,” Geno tells him. “You have to do something, you know?”

“I tried making funny faces,” Sid says moodily, watching Kolya waggle his thumbs back and forth. “And I blew raspberries on his belly.”

Geno leans down and presses a kiss to Sid’s cheek, and then the top of Kolya’s head, because he can’t resist. “Pouty,” he chides. “Kolya love you. He smile soon.”

“But you got a _laugh_ yesterday,” Sid whines. “When do I get a laugh?”

“When you funny,” Geno says. “You not very funny to baby, you know? No try and eat his feet.”

“What?” Sid asks, wrinkling his forehead, and Geno sits down next to him and takes Kolya. “I’m show,” he says, lifting Kolya so his feet are dangling in front of Geno’s face. “Kolya delicious,” he says in his goofy baby voice, making munching noises and mouthing Kolya’s feet and belly. It makes Kolya wriggle against him, smiling and drooling as he squirms. “Yes,” he says pulling back and grinning back at Kolya. “Yummy baby.”

Sid looks somewhere between bemused and dubious when he turns to look at him. “I cannot believe that works,” he says, and Geno shrugs.

“Baby humor,” he says by way of explanation.

“You’re so good at this,” Sid sighs, resting his head on Geno’s shoulder, and Geno shifts Kolya so he’s lying in between them, gazing happily at them both.

“You too,” Geno says, and presses a kiss to the top of Sid’s head. “You learn so fast.”

“I guess,” Sid says, reaching out a finger that Kolya immediately grabs onto. Geno watches Sid crook it so it tickles Kolya tummy, and Kolya breaks into a gummy smile.

“Hey,” Geno says. “Look how good you do.”

“It’s a work in progress,” Sid says, but he sounds more satisfied.

 

 **Three**  
Kolya is crying and it’s the worst noise in the universe.

It’s not just a cry, is the problem, it’s a primal sort of wail coming from deep inside him. It’s a red-faced, tiny-fisted bawl, and he’s been fed and changed, so Geno’s at a loss for what can possibly be upsetting him. Sometimes Kolya just gets like this, where something sets him off and he screams for no reason, and Geno _hates_ it.

“Sid!” He calls into the living room where they’d been watching a DVR’d game from the night before. “Sid, get me pacifier!”

“I thought you had it,” Sid calls back, padding to the kitchen where Geno is. He takes Kolya from Geno’s arms and makes shushing noises, like Geno hasn’t tried that already, but Kolya keeps crying. “Man, he’s upset about something.”

“I _know_ ,” Geno says, looking around the counters on his kitchen. He finds what seems like infinite amounts of junk mail, empty feeding bottles, and various baby toys, but no pacifier. “Pacifier not in living room?”

“I said it wasn’t,” Sid says, following after Geno as he goes into the living room to look for himself, but it’s not there. “Why don’t you trust me?”

“Maybe you miss!” Geno says. It’s hard to think in English and squabble with Sid while Kolya is screaming. “You check other living room?”

“Other… you mean the den?” Sid says, following him there, too. Geno wishes he’d stop following him. It makes it so wherever he goes, he can’t get away from Kolya’s crying. “God, your house is so ostentatious.”

“I hate you use word you know I don’t know,” Geno says, and then goes “ah hah!” because there, on the shelf, is a pacifier.

“That’s not the right one,” Sid says in a tone that makes Geno dearly wish they were in hockey gear so he could shove Sid into something. “You have to use the blue and white one.”

Geno looks down at the green pacifier and shrugs. “Is same,” he says, and wipes off the bulb of the pacifier before jamming it in Kolya’s mouth. Beautiful silence reigns for five whole seconds while Kolya gums the pacifier crankily, then spits it out onto the floor and goes right back to wailing.

“Told you so,” Sid says. Geno closes his eyes and counts to ten in both English and Russian before opening them again.

“Where is?” He grits out.

“Let’s check the nursery,” Sid says after a long moment of thought, padding upstairs with a crying Kolya in tow, Geno following reluctantly after.

The pacifier isn’t in plain sight, of course, so Geno starts looking under things and in drawers while Sid bounces and shushes Kolya, though that doesn’t seem to be doing much good. Finally, after Geno feels like he’s searched every corner of the room, he checks under the folded laundry sitting next to Kolya’s dresser to be put away, and there, tucked between two onesies, is the blue and white pacifier.

“Found!” Geno crows triumphantly, popping the pacifier in Kolya’s mouth, and at last, with one final whimper, he falls silent, sucking industriously.

“Hey,” Sid says, a slow smile growing on his face, “there you go, Kolya. We got you.”

“Daddy teach you bad habits,” Geno chides, running a finger along Kolya’s cheek. “Teach you be like him. Picky.”

“Wh - I’m not!” Sid says indignantly, the smile melting off his face.

“No,” Geno says helplessly. “Is funny, yes, because it like he yours too.”

“Hah hah,” Sid says, his mouth flattening into an unhappy line. “That’s hilarious, Geno.”

“Is just jokes, you know?” Geno tries, and Sid shakes his head.

“Well it’s not funny to me,” Sid snaps, handing Kolya back to Geno with a little more force than necessary.

“Sorry,” Geno says, and the angry creases in Sid’s forehead smooth out slightly.

“I just - I know he’s not mine,” Sid says, and then turns to the door. “I’m going back to the hockey game.”

Geno wants Sid to come back, wants to put Kolya down and take Sid in his arms instead and assure him that Kolya _is_ Sid’s, in every way that matters. But Sid’s invoked a hockey game, and that means Sid doesn’t want to hear it, not right now. “Okay,” he says instead, and watches Sid go downstairs.

 

 **Four**  
Geno’s mother declines going on the mother’s trip, which Geno thinks is a shame. He knows she feels self-conscious about speaking hardly any English, but he’d translate, and he thinks she’d enjoy herself. She just looks amused when he brings it up and pats his cheek.

“You’re a good boy,” she says, “but someone has to look after your son while you’re off playing hockey.”

Trina, however, is delighted with the excuse to come down to Pittsburgh to go on the mother’s trip. “And I can meet my new grandson!” she exclaims happily over speakerphone, and Sid looks torn between fear and delight.

“He’s not really - “ he starts, but Geno cuts him off.

“Troy too?” He asks.

“Oh, he’ll be down soon enough,” Trina says, and Geno feels a small squirm of fear as well, because suddenly he has _in-laws_ , in-laws who he hopes will take kindly to him having casually fucked their son for years before having a son of his own forced him to get a bit more serious about things. But he pushes it down, because Sid looks like he’s getting wound up to be freaking out enough for the both of them, and because he’s met Trina and Troy before, and they’ve never been anything but kind to him.“Besides,” Trina goes on, “Troy really prefers children once they’re old enough to talk and play hockey.”

Kolya, who had been peacefully mouthing at his ring of plastic keys in Geno’s arms while Geno eavesdropped, chooses that moment to spit up on himself, so Geno misses the end of the conversation. What he does learn, later, from Sid, is that Trina will fly in the afternoon before they leave to meet Kolya. “It’s just a casual thing,” Sid says the night before his mother comes, like he’s trying to reassure himself and Kolya, who he’s changing. “It’s not even like both my parents are going to be there, so, you know. Low-key.”

“Okay,” Geno says, watching Sid fasten Kolya’s clean diaper with more care than is probably necessary, considering it’s only going to last him a few hours, tops. But doing things fastidiously seems to soothe Sid when he’s anxious, and Sid certainly seems anxious about his mother visiting, so Geno lets him.

Geno doesn’t really get anxious until Sid leaves to go pick Trina up at the airport, when he looks down at Kolya’s stained onesie and realizes, suddenly, that Kolya should be bathed, and changed, because this is his _mother-in-law_. What follows is a rather hasty bath, which Kolya protests loudly, and a quick change into the nicest, most un-stained onesie he can find. Geno’s just contemplating whether he himself should change into something nicer than sweatpants when he hears the door open and Sid and Trina’s voices fill the foyer. 

Trina’s saying something about Taylor and colleges when Geno pokes his head into the front hall, and Sid is nodding very seriously, but she cuts herself off almost immediately when she sees him, handing her coat to Sid and bustling over to give Geno a hug.

“Oh Geno, hello!” She says. “Thank you so much for inviting me. Your house is lovely.”

“Thank you,” Geno says, patting her back. She’s not as small as his mother, but she’s still so tiny compared to him, her head just brushing his chest. She smells nice, like lavender and recycled airport air, and he likes how much her smile reminds him of Sid’s. “You want meet Kolya? He in here, in exersaucer.”

“Oh, of course,” she says, “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever!” Sid looks contrite behind her, stuffing his hands in his pockets self-consciously, like her not meeting Kolya sooner is somehow his fault.

“Here he is,” Geno says, walking into the living room and lifting Kolya from his exersaucer. He seems interested in Trina, turning to watch her instead of Geno when he kisses Kolya’s soft cheek. “You say hi?”

“Oh, look at him,” Trina breathes, gently taking Kolya from Geno’s when he offers him forward with the ease of someone who’s had kids before. “Geno, he’s just beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Geno says, feeling absurdly pleased and even clumsier with his English than usual.

“I know he’s not Sidney’s, but I swear he reminds me of him,” Trina says, peering adoringly down at Kolya as he watches her solemnly, sucking his hand. “Something about his eyes.”

“Yes,” Geno agrees, because he’s noticed it too - in baby pictures Geno’s eyes always looked sleepy, but Kolya’s are bright and curious, like Sid’s. And, he supposes, like a great number of people, but he chooses to believe that in that small way, Kolya takes after Sid, even if he looks exactly like Geno in almost every other way.

Sid doesn’t look happy about this being pointed out, though. If anything, he looks tense and miserable. “A minute?” He says to Geno in a low undertone, tugging at his sleeve, and Geno nods. Trina’s pretty occupied with Kolya and just smiles understandingly when Geno gestures that they’ll be in the kitchen.

“You need to stop,” Sid says quietly when they’re alone, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “You can’t let my mom think that Kolya’s her grandson.”

“Why?” Geno asks, heart sinking. He’s sure the reason is some complexity of English he has yet to grasp, some subtle way he’s been rude that he’ll have to apologize for.

“Because he’s not!” Sid says. “He’s not my son!”

Geno furrows his brow. “Yes he is,” he says. “You his Daddy. He your son.”

“But not, like,” Sid bites his lip and sighs. “Not like the same way he’s _your_ son.”

“Why not?” Geno asks. “You change half diapers. You stay half nights. You do half bottles. Kolya half Sid’s. Mean your mama his grandma, your papa his grandpa.”

Sid’s silent for a long time, studying Geno’s face with an expression Geno can’t name. “You really mean that,” he says finally.

“Yes,” Geno says, pieces of the puzzle that’s been Sid’s behavior for the last few weeks falling into place. Sid hasn’t just been nervous, and his anxiety isn’t just because of his mother coming to visit - he’s insecure. “When I say I want Sid, I want all of Sid, want for Kolya’s daddy. Half yours, half mine. If you want too.”

“Of course I want,” Sid says fiercely. “That’s _all_ I want. I thought I was, like, some kind of honorary uncle more than a father, like, he was always yours first.”

Geno laughs. “You dumb,” he says fondly, rubbing Sid’s slowly relaxing shoulder. “You ask me next time.”

“I didn’t want to hear what I thought your answer was,” Sid says, looking sheepish.

Geno holds out his arms for Sid to lean into them, leaning instinctively into Geno’s body. “You so dumb,” he whispers, and Sid lets out a high-pitched little giggle.

“Don’t call me dumb,” he says.

Geno’s about to tell him not to _be_ dumb, in that case, when he hears Kolya let out a sharp cry and then start whimpering. 

“Diaper, probably,” Sid sighs. “You want to get this one?”

Geno does not. “You 50/50,” he says. “Mean you do half diapers too.”

“Ugh,” Sid sighs, but he leans up and presses a quick kiss to Geno’s lips before going into the living room to take care of their son.

 

 **Five**  
“I still can’t believe they make jerseys this small,” Sid says, lifting Kolya up to look closer at his tiny Pens jersey. It’s too tiny to have Geno’s name on the back, yet, but someday it will. Geno bets someday he’ll have his fair share of Crosby jerseys, too.

“You see before,” Geno points out, because the baby jersey is a wardrobe staple of every player’s child.

“Doesn’t make it less cute,” Sid says. Kolya gurgles and grabs Sid’s shirt. “Yeah,” Sid says, smiling. “yeah, buddy, we’re talking about you.”

“Just wait,” Flower sing-songs from across the locker room, unstrapping his pads. “Soon there’ll be tiny skates.”

“He have to walk first,” Geno points out to Sid, who looks completely taken with the idea, like he’s about to go find skates for Kolya right that very moment. 

“Yeah, Sid,” James says, walking back from the shower only wearing boxer-briefs, and Sid instinctively turns Kolya away from the view. “Not everyone is born with skates on like you.”

“Put pants on, Lazy,” Geno says, talking over Sid before he can attempt a truly terrible chirp in response. “Is children.”

As if his warning foretold their coming, Kuni’s wife Maureen enters the locker room then with Zach and Peyton tumbling in behind her and her stroller, making James squawk and wrap a towel around his waist hastily. No one makes fun of him, though, because everyone’s transfixed by Aubrey, who’s still asleep in the stroller.

“Remember when they did that with Kolya?” Sid says, a note of wistfulness in his voice, watching Kuni stand proudly over the stroller as the guys take turns peering in at her and marveling at how tiny she is in hushed voices.

“They do today,” Geno says, because as much as the guys give Sid shit for being baby-crazy, they all are, and they made just as much fuss when Geno’s parents brought Kolya in. Even Olli, who is a baby himself and, Geno thinks, entirely too young to be noticing children with interest, had adopted a goofy grin and waved at Kolya earlier.

“I guess,” Sid says doubtfully, turning back to Kolya and looking down at him. “You’re still very cute,” he says reassuringly, even though Kolya doesn’t seem to care.

“Come on,” Geno laughs, taking Kolya back from Sid. “Is time to skate.”

Sid gets commandeered by Rhys Adams as soon as he steps on the ice, leaving Geno alone with Kolya to skate in a slow, patternless ramble around the end of the rink far from where the kids are playing. Kolya’s indifferent to being on the ice, sucking his fingers and staring up at Geno. But Geno’s so enraptured staring back down at Kolya and concentrating on skating as smoothly as possible that he doesn’t notice Sid skating up to join him until he’s craning his neck around Geno’s shoulder and smiling down at Kolya.

“How’s he liking it?” Sid asks Geno who shrugs.

“I think he like,” Geno says. “He not _not_ like.” Kolya would very loudly let them know if he didn’t like it, and he’s quiet, seemingly content. Geno looks up at Sid, then down at the other end of the ice, where Kuni, Adams, and Scuds are playing with their families. “Think you play with kids.”

“Nah,” Sid says with a little shrug of his own. “I wanted to be with Kolya. I just thought you’d want a little time alone with him first.”

Geno smiles gratefully at Sid, because he did, he wanted the first few moments Kolya was on the ice to be his moments, and normally he’d kiss Sid for being so understanding, but he can’t here, so instead he elbows Sid gently and says, “you want hold?”

“I don’t have to,” Sid says automatically, but he looks so nakedly longing that Geno just rolls his eyes and hands Kolya over.

“There,” he says, clapping Sid on the shoulder. “I have time, now you have time.”

Sid looks like he’s going to protest, but Geno skates down to center ice, ostensibly to join the older kids, though mostly he winds up on the periphery, unable to stop himself from watching Sid, who has a look of absolute wonder on his face as he skates in the same slow circles Geno was skating earlier.

“Careful,” Scuds says, skating away from his kids to stand next to Geno.“If Sid OD’s on suppressants, we’re all going to blame it on you.”

“It not so bad,” Geno protests, half-listening to Scuds, half-listening to the nonsense Sid is cooing at Kolya.

“This is skating,” Sid is saying, “do you like it? I bet you do. Of course you like it. You’re just like a little Geno.” Kolya lets out a gurgle and Geno sees him lift a little hand out of the circle of Sid’s arms and towards his face.

“Or maybe _you_ need more suppressants.” Scuds says dryly, and Geno shakes his head.

“One enough.” He says firmly. He’s only just getting the hang of Kolya, he doesn’t think he could manage another quite yet.

“So how you doing?” Scuds asks, peering at him in a fatherly, commiserating sort of way. “I remember my first. Or don’t remember a lot, actually. Didn’t get much sleep.”

“Is good,” Geno says honestly, and then, because he trusts Scuds enough to be a little more honest than he might usually be, “Sid help a lot.”

“Can’t help with all of it, though,” Scuds says, seemingly oblivious to Geno’s insinuations. He isn’t that good an actor, so he probably genuinely doesn’t understand Geno trying to imply how much Sid truly does to help raise Kolya. It’s not a conclusion many people would leap to, he thinks, because what they’re doing is more than a little crazy.

“Parents of course help always,” Geno says, to be fair. “And other guys. Good guys. Lots of help, you know? I think I’m very lucky.”

Scuds opens his mouth to say something, but Sid’s skating over to them, and he hands Kolya back to Geno before Scuds can get a word out. “I think he’s had enough of me,” Sid says, even though Kolya doesn’t seem to mind whose arms he’s in, so long as he’s being held. “Sorry, did I interrupt?”

“I was just saying how grown up you two seem, now,” Scuds says warmly, and Geno can feel himself flushing.

“Oh,” Sid says, shifting closer to Geno, seeming equally flustered. “Well, I guess you missed a lot, so.”

“Maybe,” Scuds says peaceably, smiling down at Kolya. “I should go check on my boys, make sure they’re playing nice.”

“For sure,” Sid agrees, and he watches Scuds skate away to break up what is indeed a spirited tussle between his sons. “What was that about?” He asks. “Do you think he knows?”

“I think he nice,” Geno assures Sid. “I think you just look good with baby. Make him say nice things.”

“Probably,” Sid agrees, but he looks like he’s still mulling it over.

“It matter if he know?” Geno asks tentatively. They haven’t really discussed it beyond that they’re not telling anyone who isn’t family, not yet, but Geno thinks maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. It’s the telling people that’s so excruciating, but the acceptance that comes after, that’s the good part.

“No,” Sid says, drawing out the word. His forehead is creased in thought. Geno wishes he could kiss the wrinkles away. “It’s just… something to think about.”

“Think later,” Geno advises, as Rhys Adams and Zach Kunitz come skating up to them with hopeful expressions on their faces.

“Sid, come play keep-away with us,” Rhys demands.

“Please,” Zach says, at first polite, and then he adds, “please please please please please,” just as demanding as Rhys had been for all that he’s trying to sound polite.

“Sure, guys,” Sid says with a goofy grin, skating off to join them.

“Remember,” Geno says to Kolya, but in Russian, so he doesn’t have to bother lowering his voice, “Your daddy is a sucker.”

Kolya mouths his fingers in what Geno assumes to be agreement.

 

 **Six**  
They’re at a team dinner, and Sid’s in the middle of telling Tishy about Kolya’s new trick of cooing (which Tishy is gamely and avidly listening to, as if nothing in the world could be more interesting), when Tanger leans over to Geno and goes, “are you okay with this?”

Geno looks up from his dinner. “Okay with what?” He asks, still half-listening to Sid talk about Kolya.

“Sid acts like he thinks Kolya’s his,” Tanger says. “You’re gonna break his heart.” He has a worried little frown, crankily menacing enough that Geno doesn’t go for another bite even though he’s finished chewing.

“I -” Geno starts, unsure of how to explain that Sid’s heart is as safe as he can manage to keep it without telling Tanger things that are strictly none of his business. “I’m share,” he finally says. “I’m share Kolya with Sid.”

Tanger laughs, incredulous. “ _You_?” He asks. “You suck at sharing.”

“I’m share!” Geno insists indignantly. “Sid like family.” He must say it loudly, because Sid’s story peters off and Sid and Tishy both look at him with wide eyes, as does the rest of the table.

“Sid like family,” Geno repeats for the benefit of everyone at the table, and probably everyone in the room, if they care to listen, “so Kolya his too.”

“Like a favorite uncle?” Nisky says, and before Geno can correct him he laughs. “Man, your kid’s going to be so spoiled.”

“James is worse,” Sid defends automatically, though Geno has to admit it’s true. Sid at least doesn’t bring over new toys once a week or hold Kolya until he falls asleep because it’s “cute”.

“I heard my name,” James says, turning around from the next table over and leaning in.

“We say you spoil Kolya,” Geno says.

“Uh, I think you mean that I’m _awesome_ with Kolya,” James corrects, “I’m your favorite babysitter.”

This, Geno has to ruefully admit, is also true. James is almost always willing to pause whatever video game he’s in the middle of and come over, and he doesn’t ask questions when Geno vaguely says he’s going “out”, he just assumes Geno’s going to get laid. Which he is, but James doesn’t need to know that, or who Geno’s having sex with. James, for all his virtues as a babysitter, is a terrible secret-keeper.

Sid looks all set to contest that he, in fact, is the best at taking care of Kolya in Geno’s stead, forehead all bunched and eyes glinting with that crazy, competitive light he sometimes gets over totally innocuous things like foot races to see who can catch the elevator first. But luckily for Geno’s sanity, since he’d inevitably be forced to choose between Sid and James, they’re interrupted by Tony clearing his throat to draw their attention to some film he’s cued up on the projector. Geno listens dutifully as Tony lays out the Kings’ weaknesses, but when he risks a glance at Sid, Sid’s watching with his brow furrowed, uncharacteristically thoughtful over game tape.

Sid’s also silent after Tony ends his talk and leaves them to finish dinner, and stays that way until Geno’s about to get up. “Walk with me back upstairs,” he says to Geno in his detached captain voice, and Geno just nods, knowing Sid will want to discuss what they let slip over dinner.

“So,” Geno says awkwardly, when they get up to Sid’s room as Sid empties his pockets, back towards Geno and acting like no one else is there, “At dinner tonight. Team know now. That I’m share Kolya with you.”

“I know,” Sid says. He sounds business-like as he takes off his sports coat and unbuttons the top button of his shirt. “We need to talk about that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have -”

“You should,” Geno interrupts. “You family. Kolya yours too.”

“I know,” Sid says again, sitting down on his bed, shoulders slumped. “But I didn’t mean for the whole team to know.”

Geno sits down on the bed next to Sid and takes his hand, warm from being shoved in his pocket as they walked up to their rooms. “Is our team,” Geno says. “We not trust them, who we trust?”

“It’s not about trust,” Sid says, frowning. “I trust them with anything. It’s about not being a distraction, and about us wanting to have a private life, and about how much is at stake.”

Geno sighs. They’ve had this conversation before, or he’s listened to Sid have this conversation with himself before, since Sid seems to have much stronger opinions on the subject than Geno does.

“But it’ll all work out,” Sid says, looking fiercely determined, like he can will everything to go according to some plan he’s pre-determined. 

“Of course,” Geno says. “You love me?”

“What?” Sid asks, looking bewildered. “Yes, I -”

“You love Kolya?”

“Of course I do,” Sid says, “but that’s not -”

“Then everything be fine,” Geno interrupts him. “We stay healthy, we play hockey, everyone happy.”

Sid sighs and rests his head on Geno’s shoulder. “It’s so much more complicated than that,” he mumbles.

“It really not,” Geno says, and presses a kiss to Sid’s unruly hair. “You see.”

 

 **Seven**  
There are a lot of things Geno would like to make happen. He’d like to win gold for Russia in Sochi, which he thinks about more than he’d like now that the Olympics are approaching, though he tries not to think about how much he wants it so it doesn’t affect his game.

He’d like for Sid to move in with him and Kolya. It’s wasteful, maybe, now that Sid’s finally built a house he likes. And most of all it’s impractical, because the world knows too much about Sid’s living situation, in Geno’s opinion, and they made such a fuss about him living with the Lemieux’s for so many years, he can’t imagine what it would be like if anyone ever let it slip that Sid and Geno lived together. But the idea of Sid being around all the time, of him never missing a moment of Kolya growing up, is an enticing one.

And he’d like to be able to kiss Sid in front of his parents. He doubts Sid notices or even cares that he doesn’t - in fact, Sid probably feels more comfortable that way - but Geno still wishes he could. He wishes he could do more than put his hand on Sid’s back in front of them - it seems so friendly, so insubstantial.

It’s not that he’s ungrateful, because he’s unspeakably grateful to his parents, more and more grateful every day they extend their stay with him and Kolya. He’s grateful that they didn’t hop on the first plane back to Russia as soon as they learned he was with Sid. They could have and he wouldn’t have blamed them. He thinks most Russian parents would have, because to love a man is one thing, but to know that their grandson would be raised by two men is entirely another.

His parents do little things that let Geno know they’re not entirely comfortable; his mother will make a pointed comment, and she never calls Sid by his name, he’s just “that boy”, or the millions of pictures his father takes of Kolya will mysteriously not include Sid in them. But they’re trying, he knows they’re trying, and in deference to them trying he tries too.

His parents do catch them kissing, once. Kolya’s being fussy and won’t fall asleep, even though he’s clearly tired, and Sid is being so patient with him, so good, rocking him gently and talking in a calm, even voice long after Geno’s lost patience.

“Come on, buddy,” Sid says, his hand big on Kolya’s tummy as he rubs it gently. “Sleep’s not so bad. Just try it.”

Kolya bleats balefully, but his eyes are getting so heavy, and Geno holds his breath as they slip closed.

“That’s my boy,” Sid murmurs, kissing Kolya’s forehead. “You’re doing so good.”

Slowly, by inches, Kolya goes limp in Sid’s arms. Geno can’t help kissing him when Sid straightens up after putting Kolya down in his crib. Sid makes a surprised noise against Geno’s mouth, but smiles into it.

“You magic,” Geno whispers when he pulls away an inch, and Sid giggles.

“No I’m not,” he protests, but shuts up when Geno kisses him again, deeper, because Sid’s been over all day and Geno hasn’t kissed him _once_ , except for a quick kiss hello, for fear his parents might see. But when Geno pulls away for air, he hears a soft, awkward cough.

It’s his mother, standing in the doorway to Kolya’s nursery, with an expression on her face that Geno can’t place. He opens his mouth to apologize, but his mother just says, curtly, “Tell that boy he should stay for lunch.” and turns to go back downstairs.

“Did I do something wrong?” Sid whispers as Geno stares after his mother. Sid’s never been explicitly invited to stay for a meal before. He has, of course, eaten at Geno’s, even cooked them dinner a couple of times when Geno’s mother’s back was hurting her. But Geno’s parents have never acknowledged Sid beyond a few polite exchanges that Geno’s translated where they thank each other for cooking, or Geno’s parents ask how Sid’s parents are doing.

“She want you to stay for lunch,” Geno tells Sid, and Sid blinks, clearly not understanding the significance.

“Oh,” he says, blinking. “That’s good. Is it now? I’m starving.”

Geno wants to explain the importance of the offer to Sid, but he isn’t sure if he has a good enough grasp of English to do so, and besides, he can smell the chicken soup his mother’s reheated for lunch, and that takes precedent.

The next week Geno plays a game of chicken of sorts with his parents, seeing what overt displays of affection he can get away with while they’re watching. Kissing again is out of the question, but little touches, or holding Sid’s hand while they all watch hockey, that he can apparently get away with without any repercussions. “It’s nice to see you happy,” is the only thing his mother says, one night long after Sid’s gone home.

“What?” Geno asks stupidly, not even making the connection between what she’s saying and Sid at all.

“You heard me,” she says, and acts like nothing happened. Geno only puts it together as he’s brushing his teeth that night, and stands in his bathroom for a few minutes, toothpaste foam dripping out of his mouth as he stares dumbfounded at his reflection.

But the ultimate show of acceptance doesn’t come until a few days later, when Sid’s dutifully leaned out of a picture Geno’s father is set to take of him and Kolya, and Geno’s father pulls away from the camera with a dissatisfied look on his face.

“Tell him to scoot closer,” Geno’s father says, and Geno blinks.

“What?” he asks.

“Get closer,” his father says, and waves Sid in with one hand until he’s sitting next to Geno. “And put your arm around the boy, Zhenya.”

Dutifully, Geno puts the arm that’s not holding Kolya around Sid and pulls him close. “Geno, what -” Sid asks, and Geno smiles reassuringly at him and rubs a thumb up and down his arm.

“Papa say you should be in picture,” he says, and Sid smiles back, leaning into Geno’s grip.

“Now you look like a family,” Geno’s father says approvingly, and it isn’t hard to smile when his father tells him to do so for the flashing camera.

Geno loves how the picture comes out. Kolya looks adorable - as he always does, in Geno’s opinion. Sid looks joyous, smiling his genuine, crooked, too-big smile that takes up half his face. And Geno looks a little tired, but happy in a sort of dazed way, like he can’t believe what he has the good fortune to have his arms around.

It’s stupid, and maybe he shouldn’t do it, but Geno can’t resist getting a big copy of it for the living room, placing it on the center of the mantle, in the place of honor. There are enough things in the world that Geno can’t do, and this little thing maybe he can.

 

 **Eight**  
“Geno,” Sid says, poking Geno in the side. “Hey, Geno, I just thought of something.”

Geno sighs and rolls over to face Sid, big-eyed and earnestly concerned. “What?” he asks, trying as hard as he can not to sound grumpy about being summoned from the precipice of sleep, where he was blissfully floating before Sid woke him.

“I never got a goal for Kolya,” Sid says, and Geno blinks.

“What?” He repeats, knuckling his eyes.

“Well, Kolya’s mine too, right?” Sid says, and Geno nods. “But fathers always score a goal for their new baby,” Sid goes on, as if this is a hard and fast rule.

“Not all fathers,” Geno reminds him. “Flower not score for Estelle.”

“ _You_ scored for Kolya,” Sid says sulkily, and it’s true. The first game after Kolya was born, Geno had cleaned up James’ garbage and snuck in a good one. Jussi had retrieved the puck for him, which sits on Kolya’s changing table next to the wet wipes.

“I mean, I’ve scored since he was born,” Sid says, and then bites his lip. “I just, I want that dad goal.”

Geno sighs and pulls Sid down into his arms, rubbing an arm across the broad stretch of his shoulders. “When you wish for baby,” he says, “you score hat trick. I’m help.”

“We’ll be old by then,” Sid says, muffled against Geno’s shoulder. “If we’re even still playing hockey at all.”

“I think about, sometimes,” Geno says, letting his fingers brush at the cut-short curls at the nape of Sid’s neck. “When Kolya five, after next Olympics. We wish.”

“You think we could?” Sid asks hopefully, and Geno shrugs. Five years seems like a nice number, both close enough to not seem impossibly distant, and far away enough that he can comfortably dream that by then, everything will be easier.

“Want girl next time,” he tells Sid. “Little princess, you know? Pretty like you.”

It’s a sign of how enamored Sid is with the idea of a little girl all his own that he doesn’t even blink at Geno referring to him as “pretty”, just sighs, starry-eyed. “Do you think she’ll play hockey?” he asks.

Geno pauses. Hockey isn’t something he’d ever pictured for his daughter, never something he’d grown up thinking girls could do. But he imagines a little girl who looks like Sid, all curls and fierce determination, and he can’t imagine not letting her do anything she wants. His mother will have a fit, most likely, but that’s a long time in the future. “Of course,” he says. “She our daughter.”

Sid lifts his face up enough to press a kiss Geno’s cheek. “I love you,” he says in a low, gentle voice, the voice he uses when he’s very serious and heartfelt, the voice that makes Geno’s chest tighten traitorously every time he hears it.

“I love you most,” Geno says, because it’s true. He maybe loves Kolya more than Sid, if he forces himself to think about it, because Kolya’s his child and nothing can compare to that. But he loves them both in an overwhelming, all-encompassing kind of way that he never thought he could love a person before. He loves them like family, like hockey, like something he’d die defending.

Sid huffs. “It’s not a competition, Geno,” he says, which just makes Geno smile.

“You say because I’m win,” he says, and Sid rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too.

 

 **Nine**  
Geno wakes up at two thirty in the morning to an empty bed.

He frowns and pats Sid’s side of the bed, because he knows Sid should be there. Sid had seemed so tired after the game, nodding off against Geno on the couch after dinner, that Geno hadn’t had the heart to send him home. It’s probably the last night they’ll have together before the Olympics, and Geno had intended to savor sleeping next to Sid as much as he could. But even though Sid’s side of the bed is still a little warm from his body, Sid isn’t there. 

Geno’s just considering rolling over and going back to sleep when he hears Sid’s voice coming over the baby monitor, soft and indistinct. He pulls on a shirt and pads down to Kolya’s room, just in time to hear Sid say, “And that’s how your father and I won the Stanley Cup,” to Kolya, who’s in Sid’s arms, sucking down his late-night feeding.

“You tell him good stories?” Geno asks, and Sid starts, obviously not having noticed Geno leaning in the doorway.

“You’re supposed to be asleep,” he chides, but still quiet, so as not to disturb Kolya. “We have to pack tomorrow for Sochi. I’ve got this feeding.”

“You pack too,” Geno says reasonably, leaning over to kiss Sid on the forehead.

“Yeah, well, I got up to go to go to the bathroom anyway. Heard this little guy -” Sid takes one of Kolya’s tiny pajamaed feet and squeezes it fondly, “- making noise, so.”

“Now we both up,” Geno says, sitting down in the free rocking chair and stretching out his legs so they’re tangled with Sid’s. “Tell a story.”

“I just told my best one,” Sid says with a small chuckle. “You don’t like the gold medal story.”

“Tell Stanley Cup story again,” Geno demands, rubbing his foot along Sid’s ankle.

“Okay,” Sid says, and then looks down at Kolya. “Sorry, buddy, you’re going to hear this story a lot. So it starts in 2008 when we lose to Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final…”

Smiling, Geno leans back in his chair, listening as Sid tells their greatest story to their son. He is, in that moment, with his feet tangled up in Sid’s, perfectly and utterly content.

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack (not on 8tracks because that requires, shockingly, at least 8 tracks.):  
> Safe and Sound - Capital Cities  
> Better Days - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes  
> Sea of Love - Cat Power  
> Blue (feat. Blue Ivy) - Beyoncé  
> Early In the Morning, I’ll Come Calling - James Vincent McMorrow


End file.
